This panorama was taken of the inside of the main barn door. The names and initials carved in the door represent a family history of sorts. Min and Henry are my grandparents, Don and Margie are my parents (those names were carved over 65 years ago), Ed and Jo are Dad’s sisters, and Jim is his cousin. My brother and I share the initials TM.

The barn was the place on the farm where revenue was generated. The cows were milked, calves sheltered, and the milk or cream stored until picked up by the milkman. Rainy days on the farm meant either a trip to town or an afternoon nap (rare in the summer). Rains also brightened hopes for good crops.

4-H was a big and important part of life on the farm. Not only did we take part in local club and county activities, 4-H provided opportunities to travel and learn more about the outside world. Our county livestock and dairy cattle judging teams participated in national contests. These were great learning and fun developmental experiences.

Beginning at 8 or 9 years of age, I would help my Grandpa Isaak drive cattle to this summer pasture, a distance of about 10 miles from his farm and about 7 miles from our farm. I rode my pony Penny behind the herd; the boss cow knew where she was going. This place holds special memories for me, even more so since I own a part of this land along the Missouri River. (Taken with an iPhone 5).

This room in the barn was the original milk house where milk was separated into cream. Cream and eggs were like cash at the local grocery store where they were traded for groceries and other supplies. When a new, more modern milk house was built, this room became a feed room, then eventually used for storage. On the wall are an old lantern, dehorner, and tags to identify cows.

During breaks between planting, haying, and harvesting, we picked rocks. Although it was hot, dusty work, it was important because rocks could damage farm equipment. They weren’t hard to find on our farm. It’s in an area where the edge of the glacier from the last Ice Age made a huge deposit. With the freezing, thawing and heaving of the soil, a new crop emerged each year. Picked rocks were piled up in the field or deposited along fencerows.

Most farmers in our area did their own equipment repairs and maintenance. That meant a variety of parts and supplies were on hand to make those repairs. Not much was thrown away because who knew when something might be needed for a repair.

The country church near our farm was a big part of our upbringing as well as our social life. We were related in some way to most of those who belonged to this church. After services adults would catch up on the local news and kids would play in the yard. Since we milked cows, we were often just in time and sometimes late for Sunday School. With five kids, it was a scramble to get there on time.

On our farm, mail was the link to the outside world. The mailman’s noon delivery brought letters from family and friends (and later, girlfriends), library books, magazines such as Hoard’s Dairyman and The Dakota Farmer, the weekly newspaper, the Hazen Star, and Gurney’s seed catalog. In the spring, baby chicks, ducks and geese arrived and before school started in the fall, the all-important orders came from Sears and Montgomery Ward.

North Dakota winters are long and often very difficult. Even as snow piled up and water lines froze, the livestock needed feed and bedding. In the 50s and 60s much of the work such as cleaning the barn and hauling feed to the cattle was done by hand. In later years, the farm became more mechanized and less dependent on manual labor. The steam clouds in the background are Lake Sakakawea (3 miles away) starting to freeze over.